1. Queen Victoria was proclaimed “Empress of India”
in 1876. What do the artifacts at the Victoria and Albert Museum
reveal about British colonial relationships
– politically and culturally? Choose three items in the museum from
or about the British colonies. Describe each item and discuss its
relevance as a symbol of imperial power.

2. According to H.G.C. Matthew, "The monarchy represented
the timeless quality of what was taken to be a pre-industrial order.
In an increasingly urbanized society, it balanced the Industrial Revolution:
the more urban Britain became, the more stylized, ritualized, and popular
became its monarchy, for the values which it claimed to personify stood
outside the competitve egalitarianism of capitalist society" (Morgan 549).
From the exhibts in the Victoria and Albert Museum do you think this is
an appropriate description of the monarchy in the Victorian Age?
Why or why not?

Suggested Readings:

Archer, Mildred. Company Paintings: Indian
Paintings of the British Period. London: Victoria and Albert
Museum in association with Mapin Publishing, 1992.

Bolitho, Hector. Royal Progress: One
Hundred Years of British Monarchy. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons, 1937.